Fun in the Pool

Hanging out in Grandma and Grandpa’s pool in my new float – thanks Mrs. Jackie, Mr. Peter & Corbin!

Braden’s 1st Birthday Bash

Today was Mr. B’s 1st Birthday Bash! It was a huge success.. and we are completely and utterly exhausted. Thankfully we have a year to recuperate before we do it again!

I’m posting these as a slide show since there are SO MANY! Here’s a link to all of them, for those of you who like to save them – B’s 1st Birthday Bash!

Also, my wonderful friend Sara (who just so happens to also be a wonderful photographer) was there and snapped some great shots! Here’s the link to her blog post about it – Sara P. Photography – and the slideshow that she put together. Thanks Sara!!

Fabulous Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. powdered sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp lemon zest
5 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Powdered sugar, for rolling
1 recipe Glacé Icing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cream butter and sugars in a mixer for 5 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.
Add vanilla, almond, and lemon zest.
Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt a little at a time.
Do not over mix, this process should take about one minute.
Chill dough for up to a week in the fridge, or roll out and cut right away.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake cookies for 7-8 minutes.
Wait until cookies are cooled before icing.

This recipe made 30-32 big, thick cookies.

Glacé Icing

1 lb powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 C)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp whole milk
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp extract (almond, vanilla, etc)

With a whisk, combine sugar and milk until smooth (no lumps!) Then stir in corn syrup and extract.

You will use this same recipe for both glazing and piping. The way it is right now is the consistency you want for glazing. It’s smooth and thin, like in the picture below. It easily runs off the whisk in a pretty thin drizzle.

To prepare the icing for piping, you just add more powdered sugar. Just eyeball it. You can’t really mess it up because if it’s too thick you just add more milk and if it’s to thin, you add more powdered sugar. I add it in small amounts until it’s a good consistency. For me, it’s when it gets to a point where it’s relatively hard to whisk it by hand. When I pick up the whisk, it still runs off, but in a very slow, thick stream now.

Take your glazing icing and separate it into bowls if you want to color it. Use gel food coloring (you can find it at craft or cooking stores) for more intense colors.

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